Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Eli Matthew, the very best way to describe you these past two months have been STINKER POT. :) You are exerting your will left and right, and I can't quite keep up! You are curious about everything, from how the hose works, to what sound things make when they fall, to what might happen if you hit your mama in the face. :) Wears. me. out.

Daddy showed him how to stick his finger in the hole to make water spray everywhere.

Although most times you are fearless, you have your moments where you aren't so sure of something. If you are a little uncertain or scared, you lay your sweet head on our shoulders and observe the scene. Usually this happens when someone you don't know very well picks you up, or when you are at the pool, ocean, or giant water fountains. :)

Papa and Eli at Knoxville's water fountains.

Deanie and eli.

You are so much fun right now! You love to run and play outside. You LOVE getting dirty, playing in puddles, and our mulch. You love our dogs and can now say "Huck" and "Boone". You can now find your belly and love finding ours! You will try to lift my shirt up and pat my belly (really good for my self-esteem). You are really becoming more social, and love to be around other kids, and watch them play.

Loving the swing.

You finally like swinging at the park, and will giggle every time you fly higher. You still love playing with balls, but you have needed more structured play lately, as your toys are starting to bore you, I think. As long as we can play outside with some sticks and dirt, you are happy. We've done some new things this summer- went to the beach twice, the aquarium, the zoo, and some play places. You weren't too into the zoo, but we'll try again when you know your animals a little better. The animals kind of lay around and hide in this heat!

This is your fussing/whining face, which I have learned is different from your actual upset crying face. If you are making this face, I try to explain to you that we don't whine, and sometimes we can't have everything we want. You still want whatever it is anyway. I truly didn't think we would have to think about discipline this early on, but it seems we do. Time out? Spanking? Ignore outbursts? Right now, we've tried all three, and a lot of praying, so hopefully we'll figure something out soon. How do you discipline your toddler when you can't communicate well with them??

trouble.

You are a good helper now. You always want to help sweep, or wipe down counters. You love to open and close doors for us. You help with the laundry. You still aren't so sure of the vaccuum, b/c it's a little too loud for your liking. I have to hold you while I vaccuum, and you just lay your little head on my shoulder until it's over.

We've kind of had to train you again to sleep through the night. We were out of town a lot, and you're getting your molars, so you ended up in our bed a lot. Then we came home, and you were still teething, and we were getting ready to go out of town again, and we didn't want to have you crying all night while on vacation with everyone, so we waited, and waited. This week, you've slept in your own bed all night long every night, and fussed here and there. You slept 12 hours again last night, which I think you really needed. You are still taking two naps a day, and I hear that should end anytime now. I'm kind of looking forward to getting out of the house all morning long if we want!

You are a decent eater. Your favorites right now are steamed broccoli, black beans, strawberries, and blueberries. Unfortunately, these foods don't have many calories in them, and you dropped in weight- again. At your 15 mo. check-up, you weighed a whopping 20 pounds, which puts you below your normal 5%. You are 31.75 inches tall, which is around 60%. I am now supposed to put you on a high-calorie diet, and take you back for a weight check soon. If you don't gain weight, we're off to a gastroentologist. I'm not too worried though, b/c you run around like a maniac ALL day long, and eat fruit and veggies. We have added carnation breakfast to your milk, butter and cheese to everything, and are feeding you lots of hummus, guacamole, and peanut butter!

Your vocabulary is expanding slowly but surely, and you've added a few words this month. Your pediatrician said you know a few more words than other boys at your age, so although I think you aren't talking much, it seems you are right on track!

At the beach, I heard a noise in the kitchen, and found you just like this. You pulled your box out of the fridge from lunch and were munching on some cold french fries! You are such a fun, willfull, mess Eli! We love you!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Hi friends. We just rolled into town yesterday from a week long vacation, and I thought I would write a little something before I make myself unpack my suitcase. Do y'all ever do that? Leave clothes in your suitcase for a few days until you can muster the patience and energy to put them away, wash, sort, etc.? My max is about three days. I think Matthew's grand total might be somewhere around two weeks. I should just put his away for him, but then I'd have to sniff everything to see what's clean or not, and I'd rather leave that job up to him. Anyway, this post is about the aquarium. We went a few weeks ago. My sil Leah gave us passes as a gift, and we wanted to use them when we thought Eli might possibly enjoy it. And he did!

I love his little finger pointing like his daddy's here.

Now, he probably would enjoy it even more when he can ask a billion questions about everything, but he loved seeing the fish swimming, and he loved seeing all the other kids there. I think his attention span though, was about one minute per exhibit, so there wasn't a lot of reading the signs that adults find interesting.

Here's the little wild man on his tiptoes sans shoes peering at the sting rays. His shoes kept falling off, so we gave up and let him run around like a proper southern baby.

Proof I was there too! I think I might need to give another mini-tutorial on focusing the camera. Eli and I are forever blurry. Oh, and I got my hair cut. This is actually it grown out after two months. I probably had about 6 inches cut off, and I like it. For now.

Whoops. Looks like I might need to teach myself how to focus again too. Did I mention taking pictures in dark aquariums is HARD? It gives me an appreciation for weddings photogs who get great pictures at night. That ISO and dark don't do well with me yet. I gave up after awhile and used the big ole' ugly flash. We're in the underground tunnel here. Sharks swam over us, and Eli just stared and stared. Well, for a whole minute he did, and that's about as long as he does anything these days.

Trying to touch the horseshoe crabs here. His little arms couldn't reach them too well, and this is his little unsure of something face.

Eli the scuba diver. We waited in line for about five minutes for this guy, while four adults got their pictures taken in it first. I wish Matth had told me to get his shoulders a little lower. I didn't do too realistic of a job. :)

big scary japanese spider crab.

Penguins! Here we are at the end of our journey. It was definitely a fun family outing for the day. We will probably wait to take Eli until at least another year, when he can communicate and knows his fish names a little better. :) After this we ended up walking around downtown Gatlinburg, and almost were convinced into buying an airbrush t-shirt, some fudge, or even a set of throwing knives. If you have never been to G-burg and have no idea what I'm talking about, you are really missing out on a great shopping experience! :)

Friday, July 8, 2011

Good Morning Friends! For the first time in a long time, Eli slept COMPLETELY through the night and a whole 12 hours. I woke up at seven to my body's own alarm clock, and had a cup of coffee before the little man ever rose. It has been a great day so far, and I've only been up for one hour! I went to my favorite little sewing shop yesterday, and as usual, wanted to buy everything in there. I could look at fabric for hours. Luckily for me right now, the cute girly fabric far outnumbers the cute boy fabric. I have been sewing Eli some outfits lately, and will get those pics up soon. I have fallen in love with sewing. I love spending nap times or rainy days creating cute clothes for my little boy, and saving money at the same time! Here are my very favorite fabric designers:

Amy Butler

Amy Butler

﻿

Alexander Henry

﻿
﻿

Alexander Henry

﻿
﻿﻿

Michael Miller

﻿﻿
﻿

Moda

﻿ Aren't those patterns and colors so pretty and fun?? I am forcing myself to sew down my stack of fabrics for Eli, but I did manage to buy a few pretty pieces for some girl outfits yesterday. Even though I don't have a girl, almost all my best friends do! Oh, and these designer fabrics are kind of expensive, but I usually go at the end of the month sale or yesterday, when I luckily went in and many fabrics were 50% off! I've also heard Etsy is a great place to buy some designer fabrics for cheaper (thanks, Ellen!) so check there too if you need some cute fabric!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

We went home this weekend and had a good long visit with our parents and friends. Is any visit ever long enough? I got there Tuesday, and I still missed out on seeing many important people. There never seem to be enough days where everyone can get together anymore. I completely understand why, but I think it just means I need to pack up and move back so I can see these people all the time!!

Here's a cute hiney to look at while I ramble. Well, two cute hineys in my opinion.

We also got to attend our "old" church. I terribly terribly miss this church, the people there, the children's programs, the worship, the sermons, and well, everything. Our family is there and there is just something to be said about you and your babies seeing your family every Sunday and Wednesday, meeting together to praise the Lord. The music is always wonderful, although I am a bit biased. My sister-in-law, who is married to Matthew's brother (got that?) has a father (shocking, I know). Her father is the worship minister at our church there. As in, he has the title of minister over worship not only because he is talented at what he does, but b/c it's his ministry. He works hard to plan songs that will encourage, inspire, and convict. He shows videos that touch your heart and allow you to see Jesus. He loves his job, and you can easily see that. He smiles when he sings, and raises hands in praise. Anyhow, he does a great job of re-arranging songs to fit the acapella church worship style. This past Sunday, we sang this song at the close of our service, and I've had it in my head ever since. Go check out some videos of it on youtube. I wish I could find you his arrangement to listen to. I think it's even better than the Hillsong version! Here our the lyrics to The Stand:

You stood before creationEternity in your handYou spoke the earth into motionMy soul now to standYou stood before my failureAnd carried the cross for my shameMy sin weighed upon your shouldersMy soul, now to standSo what could I say?And what could I do?But offer this heart oh GodCompletely to youSo I’ll walk upon salvationYour spirit alive in meThis life to declare your promiseMy soul now to standSo what could I say?And what could I do?But offer this heart oh GodCompletely to youI’ll standWith arms high and heart abandonedIn awe of the one who gave it allI’ll standMy soul longs to you surrender it allI am is yours

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

I have some very important things to tell you today. First, my little man and I shopped at Target yesterday. He needed some new play shoes, and I needed to get out of the house. :) I left the GPS on in my car and didn't drive it for three days last weekend, and the car was DEAD. This is the second time I've done this, mind you. Very annoying, BUT, at least it's just a dead battery. I'm always afraid it's going to be something huge that costs 1000 dollars to fix. Thankfully, Matth just had to take it to an auto store, charge it up for free, and bring it back home! ( I wrote this post in May, finished it today. whoops.)

helping with yard work.

eating a little dirt.

Anyway, I was itching to leave the house after a week of not driving anywhere. I remember my grandmother telling me she had three babies at home all day, every day while my grandfather was gone for months on end (in the Navy), and no car to go anywhere. I think she went for lots and lots of walks, and said a play yard was the trick to her sanity. :)

the lips come out when he's focused.

Okay, back to Target. I got Eli some little boat shoes that he can play in the mud with. If his little feet were a tad bigger, I would buy him some crocs that would rinse easily. I got these little shoes at Target, and he gets so many compliments on them. Cheap and cute- my kind of shoe.

eli and his lovey.

Next, Eli and I have a favorite snack. Sabra roasted pine nut hummus. Delish. I wait until they have a sale at Kroger, and I always get two of them. Eli could eat it for an entire meal. I eat it with Stacy's Simply Naked pita chips, and Eli likes to lick it off the chip. Or, sometimes we toast a piece of bread and slather it on there for part of his meals. http://sabra.com/products/Roasted-Pine-Nut-Hummus

Last, I'm in the market for a jogging stroller. I don't really know what kind to get. Fixed front wheel or not? If I get a single now, am I just going to have to get a double when we have two babies? Are the "nicer" $200 strollers really nicer?